DataSheet1_The Polysemy and Hyponymy of Mandarin Spatial Prepositions and Localisers: Building Semantic Maps from the Ground up.docx

The goal of this paper is to offer an overview of polysemy patterns in Mandarin’s chief spatial categories: prepositions (e.g., zai) and simple and compound localisers (respectively, qian and qian-mian). The paper presents data from an elicitation study that shows how speakers can access multiple senses and hyponymy relations for the vocabulary items belonging to these categories. The paper shows that while prepositions can potentially cover different spatial relations in the opportune context (e.g., zai “at”), localisers select increasingly specific senses (e.g., qian “front” and qian-mian “front side”). The paper also shows how speakers can access hyponym-like sense relations emerging from these patterns (e.g., qian-bian covering a more specific sense than qian). Semantic dimensions such as “distance” and “location type” determine the strength of these hyponymy relations. The paper offers an account of these data based on the “semantics maps” model, which captures polysemy and hyponymy patterns via the clusters of locations they refer to. It is shown that this novel model is consistent with previous works on the polysemy of spatial categories and sheds light on how Mandarin offers a unique organisation of this domain.

本研究旨在概述汉语核心空间范畴中的多义性模式：介词（例如，在（zai））以及单纯方位词与复合方位词（分别为前（qian）与前面（qian-mian））。本文呈现了一项诱导式语料采集实验的数据，该实验揭示了使用者如何能够获取属于上述范畴的词汇项的多重义项与上下位关系。研究表明，尽管介词在适宜语境下可涵盖多种空间关系（例如，在（zai）表"处于"），但方位词则会选择愈发具体的义项：例如单纯方位词"前（qian）"与复合方位词"前面（qian-mian）"。本文同时揭示了使用者如何获取由这些模式衍生的类上下位义项关系，例如"前边（qian-bian）"相较"前（qian）"承载更为具体的义项。诸如"距离"与"位置类型"这类语义维度，决定了这些上下位关系的强度。本文基于"语义地图（semantics maps）"模型对上述数据进行阐释，该模型通过词汇所指称的位置簇来捕捉多义性与上下位关系模式。研究表明，这一全新模型与此前有关空间范畴多义性的研究成果相一致，同时也阐明了汉语在该领域独具特色的组织方式。